Improvement in windmills



kUNITED lSTATES PATENT- OFFICE.

SOLOMON IV. RUGGLES, OF FITOHBURG, MASSAOHUSETT S, ASSIGNOR TO SILAS RUGGLES.

IMPROVEMENT IN wmnlvutts Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 16,257, dated December 16, 1856.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SOLOMON W. RUGGLEs, of Fitchburg, in the county of lorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved find-Theelg and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure lis a vertical section of my improvenient, the plane of section being through the center. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of one of the buckets x, Fig. 2, showing the plane of section.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention,I will proceed to describe it.

A represents uprights or posts, which are attached to a suitable bed-piece B, and C is a circular top piece attached permanently to the upper ends of the uprights A, (or posts or frame of building.)

D is a vertical shaft, the lower end of which is stepped at the center of the bed-piece B. The upper end of this shaft passes up through the center of the top piece O.

E is a bar through which the shaft D passes. This bar rests upon the top piece C and is allowed to turn freely upon it. To one end of the bar E a vane F is attached. To the opposite end of the bar E an oblique or dia-gonal bar G is attached, and this bar G has a slide H fitted in it, to which one end of a wire or rod I is attached. The'opposite end of this Wire or rod is connected to an upright a, which is attached to the end of a bar o, the bar b being connected at right angles to the bar E. (See dotted lines, Fig. 2.)

The rod or Wire I is curved and inclined,

the curvature corresponding to that of the top piece C.

J represents a disk of beveled or convex form. This disk is attached permanently to the upper end of the shaft D and just above the bar E. The center of the upper surface of the diskJ has a circular boss or proj ect-ion c upon it, and boards or buckets K are attached by leather strips d or other suitable joint connections to the upper surface ot the disk between the edge of the boss or projection c and the edge ot' the disk J, the boards or buckets when lying dat upon the disk being flush with the upper surface of the boss or projection c. The boards or buckets are of somewhat triangular form, so that they may be tted radially on the disk J. The outer edges of the buckets K are connected by leather strips e to the edge of the disk J, the strips e being sufiiciently wide to allow the buckets to rise and fall like bellows. The outer ends ot' the buckets have projecting rodsf formed on them, said rods passing` over the wire or rod I as the disk J rotates.

The operation will be readily seen. The vane F keeps the wire or rod I in a proper relative position with the Wind, and the buckets are raised in consequence of the rods f passing over the wire or rod I, and as the buckets rise they are filled by the wind and the disk J is propelled or rotated thereby. The buckets fall by their owngravity as they pass oft the wire and get beyond the direct action of the wind. Thus it will be seen that while the buckets on one side of the disk are iilled and acted upon by the wind those on the opposite side, which are approaching the wind, are closed and remain so till they reach the wire or rod I, which raises 'them at the proper point to receive the wind. The wheel is stopped by merely shoving out the slide H in the bar G, so that the projecting rodsfon the buckets cannot come in contact with it.

The speed of the wheel may be regulated by any of the known devices now employed for such purposes.

The above invention is extremely simple and will work etten-tively. It may be constructed at a moderate cost, there are no parts liable to get out of repair, and may be placed on a building of moderate height. The wheel may be made perfectly watertight, so that the machinery below will not be exposed to the weather.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The disk J and buckets K, in combination with the wire or rod I, connected with the vane-bar E, and arranged as described, for the purpose specified.

SOLOMON W. RUGGLES.

IVitnesses:

W. J. MERRIAM, JAMES W. LEvERET'r. 

